Acoustic echo cancellation is a critical component in videoconferencing and telepresense applications. It guarantees clear audio delivery between participating studios. Studio is a general term meaning a ‘node’ involved in the conference. Videoconferencing is a term which describes a conference between two or more parties that are physically separated and are communicating with each other by means of electronic audio and video. Telepresence is a similar concept that attempts to simulate being in a different physical location utilizing electronic audio and video, and additionally providing a means to manipulate the remote environment.
Acoustic echo cancellation (AEC) is a very important component of any modern videoconferencing or telepresence system. AEC guarantees clear audio for all participants of a videoconference or telepresence session. One type of acoustic echo cancellation system is a hardware system, which detects an acoustic echo in an audio system and attempts to remove the echo, or diminish its affect as much as possible. However, current hardware only solutions, once deployed, cannot be modified without upgrading the equipment.